GFG Liberty Steel Australia Whyalla steel plant

This article is part of the Global Iron and Steel Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Sub-articles:

GEM Wiki Main Page All steel plants Steel decarbonization research List of steel producers World Steel Association Steelmaking technology Green steel projects

GFG Liberty Steel Australia Whyalla steel plant, also known as Liberty OneSteel Whyalla, is a steel plant in Whyalla, South Australia, Australia that operates blast furnace (BF), basic oxygen furnace (BOF), electric arc furnace (EAF), and direct reduced iron (DRI) technology.

Location

The map below shows the exact location of the plant in Whyalla, South Australia, Australia:

Loading map...

{"type":"HYBRID","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":14,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":-33.009381,"lon":137.587836,"icon":""}]}

• Location: 172 Lacey Street, Whyalla, South Australia 5600, Australia
• Coordinates (WGS 84): -33.009381, 137.587836 (exact)

Background

Plant History

The Whyalla Steelworks is an integrated and electric steelworks with current capacity of approximately 2.6 million tonnes per annum of cast steel and hot rolled product. GFG Alliance states that the plant is Australia’s "only manufacturer of special grade billet and steel long products" and that it produces "semi-finished steel billets to Liberty Steel and produces custom made hot rolled structural, rail and sleeper products for internal and external customers."

Corporate ownership changes

In April 2016 Arrium appointed KordaMetha to restructure the debt-laden business which included the Whyalla Steelworks. KordaMentha aimed to sell the Whyalla Steelworks and related businesses as an integrated package.

In late September 2017 Liberty House GFG announced that it had bought the Whyalla Steelworks.

In early 2020, Whyalla Steelworks, previously known as Liberty OneSteel or Liberty Steel Whyalla announced a name change to "InfraBuild Steel Centre Whyalla. InfraBuild remains a company of the Liberty Group.

Coal Supply

In January 2018 the GFG Alliance announced that its mining division, SIMEC Mining, had entered into an agreement to buy Glencore’s Tahmoor coal mine in New South Wales. At the time the mine had annual production of about 2 million tonnes of coal a year with most of its product being high-quality coking coal used for primary steel making in blast furnaces.

The company described the purchase of the mine, which ws scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018, as "a key element in the GFG Alliance’s transformation plan for its flagship Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia that is designed to optimise and expand production, thereby securing its long term sustainability."

In the media release Gupta stated "the acquisition of the Tahmoor mine is an exciting step forward in our stated strategy to create fully-integrated, end-to-end businesses in Australia, from raw materials and energy right through to high-value finished products ready for market ... Through this purchase we secure and de-risk an important feed for the Whyalla Steelworks."

The purchase of the Tahmoor mine was completed on April 20, 2018.

Power supply

Existing power supply

The South Australian grid, run by the then Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA), was extended to Whyalla by the late 1950s. While the town's supply was progressively transferred to ETSA during the 1960s, BHP continued to supply much of its own needs and those of some other customers that were not economic to transfer to the ETSA network. As BHP's power needs grew it began to use grid power for a greater portion of its own needs. However, as of 2016 the steelworks continues to generate its own electricity to lower its energy costs and increase security of supply.

As of 2005, the Whyalla Steelworks has 66.5 MW of dedicated electricity generating capacity on-site. 57.5 MW of this capacity consists of three turbo alternators driven by steam raised in various boilers, fired primarily by waste blast furnace and coke oven gases. The boilers can also be fired with supplementary fuel oil and natural gas. The boilers also provide steam for process use around the plant. Two 4.2 MW gas turbines operate exclusively on purchased natural gas.

Despite this on-site capacity, the plant relies on purchased electricity for a substantial portion of its needs, and only exports power to the grid occasionally.

Renewable energy plans

As part of its plan to overhaul the business, GFG Alliance announced in August 2017 that it proposed to invest up US$1 billion in the Whyalla steelworks and associated mining businesses including to "improve energy generation capabilities, including a new co-generation power plant to capture and reuse waste gases, generating on-site captive power." The announcement also proposed investment in "new large-scale pumped hydro and solar power plants to assist in addressing Australia’s energy imbalance and high energy costs.

Several weeks later GFG Alliance announced that, via its SIMEC Energy subsidiary, had bought a majority shareholding in the energy company ZEN Energy "to deliver cheaper, more reliable and environmentally sustainable energy for SIMEC’s mining operations in South Australia and Liberty OneSteel’s operations in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia."

The company explicitly stated that its "main focus" in the development of new energy projects would be on renewable energy.

In late October 2017 the Board of ZEN Energy announced that its board had adopted a strategic plan of proving 1000 megawatts of "additional dispatchable renewable generation assets to support long-term electricity supply contracts with South Australia’s large industrial users, including the Liberty OneSteel Whyalla Steelworks."

Included in its proposals "for early development" were "200MW of solar photovoltaics, comprising 80MW in the Whyalla Council industrial area, expanded by 120MW on adjacent land owned by Liberty OneSteel; 100MW/100MWh battery at Port Augusta; a 100MW of demand response at the Whyalla Steelworks and other SA sites; and 120MW/600MWh pumped hydro storage facility at a disused iron ore mine pit in the Middleback Ranges."

Transition

In June 2020, the company announced its plans to transition the plant away from BF-BOF technology by 2024, making it a "GreenSteel" facility. The BF-BOF equipment will be phased out in favor of a 1.5mtpa EAF and 1.8mtpa DRI plant, which will be fed by natural gas until they are able to produce green hydrogen to feed it instead. The project aims to leverage renewable energy sources, such as solar and hydroelectric power, to achieve carbon-neutral steel production, reduce emissions, and create sustainable jobs in the region. The transformation is expected to position Whyalla Steel as a global leader in environmentally friendly steel manufacturing.

Low-emissions/green steelmaking

This steel plant is associated with a green steel project tracked in the Green Steel Tracker. Details about the project are included below.

Table 1: Green Steel Project Details

All references for the above data are available in the Green Steel Tracker.

	Project 1
Project name	Whyalla Transformation Program
Company	Liberty Steel Group
Company has climate goals?	Yes
Location	Whyalla, Australia
Project website	Site
Project scale	Full scale
Project status	Announced
Year to be online	2027
Technology to be used	NG-DRI to H-DRI
Technology details	DRI+EAF Fed by Natural Gas in transitioning to green H2
Iron production capacity (million tonnes per year)	Not applicable
Steel production capacity (million tonnes per year)	1
CO2 capture (million tonnes CO2 per year)	Not stated
Hydrogen generation capacity (MW)	2
Investment size (m USD)	760
Partners	Not stated
Date of announcement	2020-06-10

Plant Details

Table 2: General Plant Details

Start date	Workforce size	Power source	Iron ore source	Coal source
1941	1500	66.5 MW Captive Power Plant; South Australian Grid, Santos (gas supplier)	Simec Mining (part of GFG Alliance)	Tahmoor mine

Table 3: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Parent company	Parent company PermID	Parent company GEM ID	Owner	Owner company PermID	Owner company GEM ID
GFG Alliance Ltd	5057811578	E100001000556	GFG Alliance Ltd	5057811578	E100001000556

Table 4: Process and Products

Steel product category	Steel products	Steel sector end users	ISO 14001	ISO 50001	Responsible steel	Main production equipment
semi-finished, finished rolled	rod, tube, wire, bar	building and infrastructure, energy, steel packaging, tools and machinery	unknown	unknown	unknown	BF; DRI; BOF; EAF

Table 5: Plant-level Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

¹Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.

Capacity operating status1	Basic oxygen furnace steelmaking capacity	Electric arc furnace steelmaking capacity	Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
announced	–	1500	1500
operating pre-retirement	1200	–	1200

Table 6: Plant-level Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

¹Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.

Capacity operating status1	Blast furnace capacity	Sponge iron/DRI capacity	Nominal iron capacity (total)
announced	–	1800	1800
operating pre-retirement	1200	–	1200

Table 7: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

Ferronickel	Sinter	Coke	Pellets
NF	NF	NF	NF

Table 8: Actual Plant-level Crude Steel Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)

Year	BOF production	Other/unknown steel production	Total (all routes)
2019	unknown	unknown	–
2020	unknown	unknown	–
2021	1022	–	1022
2022	886	–	886
2023	unknown	unknown	–
2024	unknown	unknown	–

Table 9: Actual Plant-level Crude Iron Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)

Year	BF production	Other/unknown iron production
2019	unknown	unknown
2020	unknown	unknown
2021	unknown	unknown
2022	unknown	unknown
2023	unknown	unknown
2024	unknown	unknown

Unit Details

Table 10: Blast Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Construction date	Start date	Furnace manufacturer and model	Current size	Current capacity (ttpa)	Decarbonization technology	Most recent relining
BF 2	operating pre-retirement	1965	1965	Hoogoven	1884.0	1200	unknown	2011-06

Table 11: Direct Reduced Iron Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Start date	Furnace type	Current capacity (ttpa)
unknown DRI (1)	announced	2027	not found	1800

Table 12: Electric Arc Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Announced date	Construction date	Start date	Furnace manufacturer and model	Current capacity (ttpa)	Current size (tonnes)
unknown EAF (1)	announced	2020	2025	2027	Danieli Q-One technology	1500	160.0

Table 13: Electric Arc Furnace Feedstock Details

Unit name	Scrap-based	% scrap	% DRI
unknown EAF (1)	yes	>0	unknown

Table 14: Basic Oxygen Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Start date	Current capacity (ttpa)	Current size
unknown BOF (1)	operating pre-retirement	1964	1200	100.0 m3

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Iron and Steel Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.

Resources

• Company website
• Wikipedia